Kosher

KOSHER means "fit" or "proper" and is derived from Es ther viii. 5, the only biblical instance of the adjective, KOsHiR (Ashkenazie form, with accent shifted vulgarly, common in N. Europe) or KAsHiR (Sephardic form, common in S. Europe and the East). Kosher is chiefly used in connection with the dietary laws and implies (a) that the food is not derived from the animals, birds or fish prohibited in Leviticus xi. or Deut. xiv., (b) that the animals or birds have been slaughtered by cutting the windpipe (Shehitah) so as to produce instantaneous loss of consciousness, (c) that the meat has been salted (Melihah) to remove the blood (Deut. xii. 16, 23-25 and elsewhere) after the carcass has been critically examined (Bediqah) for physical blemishes, that the ischiatic nerve has been removed (porged) from hindquarters (Gen. xxxii. 32) and (d) that meat and milk have not been cooked together (Exod. xxiii. 19) and that separate utensils have been employed. Further information on these subjects will be found in Jew. Enc. s.v. Dietary Laws. For the Jewish mode of slaughter see Dr. M. Hyamson's pamphlet and the reports of Profs. Wood, Hill, Barcroft and Mr. L. F. Newman. In consequence of (b) the term Terefah (that which has been torn by beasts, Gen. xxxi. 39) is extended to all food violating the law, even, incorrectly to admixtures of leaven on Passover (Exod. xii. 2o), though Kosher cal Pesali, "fit for Passover" is fairly correct. So-called Kosher wine is wine grown and prepared under observation, to prevent libations from being taken from it. On this relic of Roman days, once common to Judaism and Christianity, see W. Elmslie's edi tion of Mishnah `Aboda Zara 09'0 in which the Jewish and Christian regulations (those of Tertullian) are compared. Kosher

is often used generally of other matters : sometimes as opposed to Pas (unfit), e.g., of a scroll of the Law.

KOgICE,

a town in Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, on the right bank of the Hernad at a point where it leaves the highlands for the fertile plain. It was transferred from Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon, 1920. Surrounded on three sides by hills covered with forests and vineyards, Kogice consists of an inner town, once walled, and five suburbs tolerably well-built and sepa rated from the old town by the site of the ramparts. The old town, in which are the principal shops and markets, is grouped around the Gothic cathedral of St. Elizabeth (127o-1468), one of its few monuments of general interest and reputed to be the finest piece of architecture in pre-war Hungary; the interior was trans formed to the Renaissance style in the i8th century. At one time Kogice was an important market for agricultural produce and a centre of trade between Hungary and Galicia, but in recent years has turned its attention more and more to the selling and working of Slovakian wool; in addition there are distilleries, fertiliser factories, sawmills and breweries. Kogice, created a town by Bela. IV. in 1235, and a royal free town by Stephen V. in 127o, has had a very stormy history to which its position near fluctuating fron tiers has freely contributed, for Austrians, Hungarians, Russians and Turks have held it at different times. Around it the life of Upper Hungary gathered in times of revolt and war, e.g., in the 1848-49 revolution, and to it the surrounding districts naturally turn in days of peace. Pop. (1930) 70,232; about 20% were Magyars.